Member Avatar for everett.davidson1

I have a client who can not download her attachments throught the windows mail app. Their mail server is gmail and they do not have a windows account. If they go into the desktop and go to their gmail they can download the attachments with no problem. Is the issue the fact that they do not have a windows account therefore the apps do not work fully? I have no problem with downloading attachments and I have a windows account.

  • 4 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 2K Views
  • 5 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Claudio_3

Dani AI

Generated

Good question, . The short answer: not signing into Windows with a Microsoft account is not what breaks attachment downloads. You do, however, need to sign in to the Windows 8 Mail app itself with a Microsoft account the first time you use it; after that you can add Gmail or other accounts. So lack of a Microsoft account would stop the app from working at all, not just attachments. (support.microsoft.com)

Where attachments specifically fail in early Windows 8, is likely right that the issue often surfaced with Exchange ActiveSync (EAS). A practical fix back then was to remove the Gmail account and re-add it using IMAP/SMTP (Mail supports EAS and IMAP; POP is not supported). In many cases that avoided the EAS attachment request path entirely. ()

For anyone stumbling on this thread today: two later changes matter. First, Google ended new consumer Gmail EAS setups on January 30, 2013, steering clients like Mail toward IMAP. Second, Google has been phasing out password-only access (aka Less Secure Apps) in favor of OAuth; legacy clients that cannot do OAuth will have trouble signing in at all. In short, the old Windows 8 Mail app is unlikely to connect reliably to Gmail in 2025; use a modern client that supports OAuth or the web. (arstechnica.com)

, about stopping automatic downloads: by design, Windows 8 Mail fetched attachments on demand; Windows 8.1 could prefetch some when conditions allowed. To minimize or stop prefetch, turn off the account option to always download the full message/images, and if bandwidth control is the goal, mark the connection as metered so attachments are never auto-downloaded on that network. ()

If you are still on Windows 8.x and attachments fail only in Mail but work in Gmail on the web, try: remove and re-add the Gmail account as IMAP, then test again. If it still misbehaves, move to a current mail client. ()

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for billbo72

The problem appears to be in the ActiveSync Protocol client implementation in the mail app. The GetAttachment command isn't functioning properly. The GetAttachment command is supposed to pass the name of the attachment to retrieve. But it doesn't. Therefore, the server fails the request with an HTTP 500 Internal Server Error.

Micro$oft is aware of the issue but it is not likely to be fixed anytime soon. Almost remenicent of releasing a Beta while pretending it's RTM grade... What did we call that? Was it Vista?

As a possible work-around, sometimes, it will download but not present it to you. You may try to find your attachments at the following file path:

C:\Users**Your Account Name**\AppData\Local\Packages\microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\LiveComm\e214224ee7860485\120712-0049\Att\

In the "Att" directory, you'll have other directories which will possibly contain the attachments. If they are there, I know this is not a final solution but maybe you could put a shortcut to the "Att" directory on her desktop or something and she could at least retrieve them for the time being.

Let me know if this works for you! Thanks.

Member Avatar for kotoe.saung

Think global,Act local.Global when you can,Local where you must.

Member Avatar for Claudio_3

With this automatic downloading of attachments, is there a way of turning this off?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.